Slow but Positive Action

The market continues its run of positive but very slow action. Apple (AAPL) grabbed most of the attention today but the market had a solid close with positive breadth and gains in the indices. Volume was light and buyers weren't tripping over each other to load up, but the bears are having little success and a foundation of support is building.

There isn't any big mystery as to why the market is acting this way. There is high degree of confidence that a fiscal-cliff deal will be made and market players want to make sure they have some long exposure so they don't miss out. On the other hand, there are doubts about our politician's ability to make a deal, and concerns about the economy even if the fiscal cliff is no longer an issue.

Tomorrow morning brings the monthly jobs news, which may add some urgency to the whole fiscal-cliff debate as there will be even more worries about the economy. Any softness is likely to be blamed on Hurricane Sandy; however, with the recent downturn in many of the economic numbers, confidence will remain shaky.

I wish I could tell you that I'm aggressively buying a slew of great-looking longs, but it continues to be tough to put money on the line. I'm not sure what is going to change that, but if we have to wait until the fiscal-cliff deal is done, it's going to drive many traders crazy.

Have a good evening. I'll see you tomorrow.

Get an email alert each time I write an article for Real Money. Click the "+Follow" next to my byline to this article.